Gensokyo Railway Series 14 (Ghosts and Spirits)
by Pergold
Summary: Its not uncommon to see undead people, whether in the form of a ghost or vagrant spirit. But when a old face shows up in a new world, things begin to unravel.
1. Prologue

Marisa had been thinking of the name 'Mima'. She asked Reimu about who she might've been.

"I don't know. But that name does sound familiar." she said.

"I think we ought to ask Yukari who Mima is." suggested Marisa.

When the two got to the Yakumo household, Marisa froze.

"What's wrong Marisa?" asked Reimu.

"I don't know. Just..."

"Just what? If its about what happened between you and Yukari, you should have let it go."

"But how would you feel, getting all sort tools shoved into your-"

Ran walked up to them.

"Hi Ran." said Reimu.

"I was just wondering if your coming in or not."

"Oh we are, _aren't we_ Marisa?"

"Yes, we are coming in." said Marisa.

The two walked in the house and the two went up to Yukari.

"Do you know who Mima is?" asked Reimu.

"You should know who she is." replied Yukari.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is. Is that you already know who Mima is."

"I only know what her name is. I just want to know who she's like."

"She used to mess around with your shrine."

Reimu tried to remember Mima and her connection to the shrine, but it all seemed hazy.

"I don't know. I can't seem to remember." said Reimu.

"Its been a while, that's why."

Soon, it became apparent that Yukari wouldn't tell her more about this mysterious Mima character. So the two left.

"They asked about Mima." Yukari said to Ran.

"Should I bring her back?"

"I don't know Yukari-sama. But do what you must." Ran said.

Yukari pondered about the idea, and she was thinking of a plan.


	2. No Joke For Akemi

Ichihiro and Kiyoshi were in the yards when Akemi came by.

"I'm the smartest, most fruitful on the railway!" Akemi said.

"Fuzakeru na! We all are _equally_ fruitful on the railway." replied Ichihiro.

"I think your getting all puffed up in your smokebox!" said Kiyoshi.

Akemi left and found Hiroto and began to boast again.

"I'm the pride of the line!"

"But I saw you pulling trucks this morning. Your just a goods engine with a girl's name." said Hiroto.

Akemi, not one to be talked down. Thought up a way to get back at Hiroto.

"Um...The Scarlet Controller has plans for me!"

"What plans?"

"You'll see."

"Oh dear, what will I do?" thought Akemi to himself.

He soon found Ichihiro putting together some coaches.

"Are these for me?" asked Akemi.

"No, these are for Hiroto. I have some trucks for you though." replied Ichihiro.

Akemi decided to play a trick on Hiroto.

"Uh, these coaches are for me. Scarlet Controller's orders!" lied Akemi.

"Are you sure? I mean..."

"Can't argue with orders, Ichihiro." said Ichihiro's driver.

Akemi was soon coupled up to the coaches and left to pick up passengers.

Hiroto pulled into the yard.

"Where are my coaches?" asked Hiroto.

"Those were for Akemi, I have your trucks right here." replied Ichihiro.

"Trucks!"

"Wait until Remilia hears about this!" said Hiroto's driver.

Akemi was enjoying himself immensely, he took some passenger to Kourindou when he saw the Scarlet Controller standing at the end of the platform.

"Some jokes are funny, but this one isn't! You have confused my arrangements, you'll stay in the shed until you are wanted!" she said, furiously.

At the sheds, Hiroto and Kenta were teasing Akemi.

"I wonder who will pull the express?" asked Hiroto.

"I don't know. Maybe Akemi would want to pull it!" replied Kenta, completing the joke.

Days had passed and Akemi was back to work, he was moving some trucks and was finishing up when an Akuryou in a blue dress walked up to him.

"I need to attend to an important meeting with Reimu, can you take me there?" she asked.

"An Akuryou is a vengeful spirit, Akemi. Maybe the miko can seal her away."

The Akuryou climbed into Akemi's cab and they went to the station by the Hakurei Shrine. Akemi tried his best to give a good ride and by the time he got there, the Scarlet Controller and Reimu were waiting by the platform. The Akuryou told them that Akemi had given her a good ride, and that his Controller must be proud of him.

"I'm his controller and yes, I'm proud of him." said the Scarlet Controller.

Reimu took a good look at the Akuryou and her eyes opened widely.

"Oh my god...I remember you!" she said before passing out.


	3. The Ghostly Passenger

The spirits of the dead, on their way to Higan. Often end up by the Sanzu River, this when a shinigami, Komachi Onozuka ferry them across the river, for a price. This unsettles the people who come to the resort that was built at the end of the Sanzu branch line and is the reason why its never quite so packed. The kappas built a small harbor, serviced by the railway in hopes of building ships that don't require a shinigami to float on this river.

One day, a lonely ghost stayed by the platform at the Sanzu Resort. The ghost appeared western and had a suit and wore a hat with fish tackling on it. The ghost waited until Ahiru arrived with some passengers.

"Odd." said Ahiru's driver.

"What's odd?" replied Ahiru.

"I've seen that man before. I mean, there's not many westerners that live here."

The ghostly man boarded the train and headed for the Human Village. When he got there he disembarked and wandered about until he found Ichihiro.

"Where does this train go?" asked the ghost.

"This one goes to Eientei." answered Ichihiro.

"What's Eientei?" the ghost asked coldly.

"Eientei is here some of the sick humans and youkai go. One time, I helped some wounded villagers go there after an explosion had happened."

The ghost stared and then he spoke again.

"Reminds me of what I did in my life."

"What did you do in your past life?" asked Ichihiro.

"Well, its a bit of a story."

The ghost began to tell his story.

It was the early 1950's and a war was being fought in a part of east Asia, known as Korea. I was a Lieutenant Colonel, I was in charge of the 4077 MASH unit. We were a hospital were soldiers would be brought to if they were injured. We were the best, our doctors would tens of hundreds of surgeries in a day if fighting was heavy enough. Two of the doctors were friends and often joked around, their names were Benjamin Pierce and John McIntyer. There was also another doctor, a Major Frank Burns, but he was strict and a hothead. Things ran well, then I got word that I was to be discharged. I spent one last night, drinking with the other doctors, they got me a present, this suit that I was wearing. Then I got on a plane and it was shot down over the Sea of Japan.

Ichihiro looked down at his buffers then looked sadly at the ghost.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you." said Ichihiro.

"Its no big deal. That happened so long ago, even though I won't ever see my family again." the ghost replied.

"How about I take to Eientei, its like the 4-O-whatever MASH."

So, Ichihiro took the ghost to Eientei, where Eirin Yagokoro was waiting.

"What's the matter Eirin?" asked Ichihiro.

"I got some people who need some surgery, but I'm all tied up with some sick moon rabbits!" Eirin said.

"I have a passenger who might help!"

The ghost came out of Ani and walked over to Eirin.

"I have some experience with this." the ghost said.

"Thank god! I'll get you situated, when that's done, I'll let you take care of the moon rabbits, while I perform some surgery."

"If only Hawkeye were here." thought the ghost.

"What's your name?" asked Eirin.

"Henry. Henry Blake."


	4. The Missing Magician

Shiro pulled into Kourindou station one afternoon, pulling in a mixed goods train when he saw Alice Margatroid who was looking distraught.

"What's the matter Alice?" asked Shiro.

"Its Marisa, she went out drinking with that Mima girl and she wasn't come back yet." said Alice.

"Don't worry, she'll come back."

"But that was Monday! Today's Wednesday!" Alice was clearly looking upset.

"I want her back and safe. I hope she didn't..." Alice was about to cry.

"Don't worry Alice! I'll tell the other engines. They'll find her!"

Shiro parked his trucks and picked up a return train and headed back to the big station.

"Has anyone seen Marisa?" asked Shiro.

"I haven't seen her recently, why are you asking?" replied Ichihiro.

"She went missing last Monday, Alice is worried sick about her."

"Good riddance, all she ever did was steal things." said Hiroto.

"How could you! Alice is worried that Marisa might be dead and all you think of is her kleptomania!"

"I'll keep a lookout for her." said Ichihiro.

Hachirou pulled into the station.

"Hello all! What's going on?" he said.

"Marisa Kirisame's gone missing. We're going to try and find her, _aren't we Hiroto!_ "

"Isn't she blonde with a pointy hat?" asked Hachirou.

"Yes." answered Shiro.

"I saw her with a green haired girl wearing blue. They went on my train to Mayohiga, maybe she's still there."

"I'll see if I can see Alice again and tell her that we have a lead. You go and see if she's there, Hachirou."

"I'll see if I can." said Hachirou.

Hachirou loaded up on passengers and left for Mayohiga. He pulled into the yard and told the stationmaster about the missing magician.

"I'll tell the yardmaster." the stationmaster said.

Soon, an ersatz search party was made and the whole yard and station were checked. No goods van was unchecked, every corner and every room were explored, until they came across a small shed.

"So this must be Marisa. She fits the description." said one of the members of the search team.

"We need to get her to Eientei, quick!"

Marisa was unconscious and had cuts on her head. Hachirou quickly took the hurt magician to the big station, where she was put on Ichihiro's train to Eientei, where she was hastily admitted.

"This doesn't look good." said Eirin.

"She seemed to have been hit pretty good." said Henry Blake, the ghost.

Mr. Blake pointed to areas where she might have been hit, whatever it was, it must have been hard and blunt. Alice was contacted and Shiro brought her to Eientei. Reisen told her which room Marisa and in and Alice ran as fast as she could. She saw Marisa laying down and being tended to by Henry Blake.

"No. no. no. no. no. Marisa you can't be!" Alice started to cry.

"Don't worry, she's alive. Marisa is going to be alright." said Mr. Blake.

That was when Marisa began to regain consciousness.

"Ow...What happened?" said Marisa, weakly.

"MARISA! Your alive!" yelled Alice, now crying with tears of joy.

Eirin walked in to see what the ruckus was about.

"What's the matter?" she said.

"Marisa is awake, Ms. Yagokoro." said Henry Blake.

"Marisa, how are you feeling?" asked Eirin.

"My head hurts, its probably from all the sake." responded Marisa.

"I think its more than that. What can you remember?"

"I can't remember, everything seems so hazy. But then everything stops after a while." said Marisa.

Alice began jumping to conclusions.

"Its that Mima! She did this to you didn't she?"

"I don't know Alice. She was with me, then we had a drinking contest and after that is all I could remember, _da ze_."

Alice stayed with Marisa, until Marisa had recovered from her injuries.

"Thank you Shiro." said Alice, several days had passed since Marisa had been admited and now was time for her to leave.

"Don't thank me. Thank Hachirou, he figured out that Marisa was in Mayohiga." said Shiro.

"When I meet him, I'll thank him."

Marisa stayed at Alice's place for a few days after she left Eientei. No one knows who hit her exactly, but Alice had a feeling who it was.


	5. Break Van

Hachirou was one of the latest engines to work on the Gensokyo Railway. He was strong enough to pull freight and gentle enough to pull coaches, as such, he works primarily as the engine to work on the Mayohiga extension. However there was a sentient break van in the yard, he was spiteful and hated Hachirou, he made all his trains late. One day, Hachirou gave him a big bump.

"Ow!" said the brake van.

"There's more coming if you keep misbehaving."

The brake van behaved better afterwards. However Hachirou soon had an accident. He was going to rest on a siding, but it was slippery and he couldn't stop until he crashed tender first into a signalbox. The Scarlet Controller was angry with him.

"Now look what had you done! You've disabled the yard and I have to cancel all the Mayohiga trains until you are mended!" she said.

One of the engines that had to help with the extra work that piled up was Akemi. After Hachirou was fixed, Akemi was still having to deal with the extra work.

"I heard of some engine and a truck of Shoyu and treacle." joked Hachirou.

"What? That's it? What about my name or the bootlace while your at it."

" _Kuso kurae_!" finished Akemi.

Akemi took a goods train with the sentient brake van, the van applied its brakes and made the train slow, the brake van's axle boxes ran hot and the train had to stop. Akemi was at the foot of Hiroto's Hill when Hachirou was called to help.

"Can you help me up the hill?" asked Akemi.

"Sure. That's what I was told anyway." said Hachirou.

The two engines puffed up the hill, the brake van was playing tricks on Akemi and made his brakes go on. Hachirou, being the stronger and bigger of the two, was pushing harder now that brake van was pining down its brakes. The guard heard a cracking noise getting louder and louder, the guard ran out and yelled.

"Hey stop it! The van's breaking!"

The guard jumped clear as with one hard push forward. Hachirou crushed the brake van and turned it into busted metal and splintered wood. The brake van was in pieces. Shiro came with a work crew to clean up the mess and the Scarlet Controller came to see what the matter was.

"You broke a perfectly good brake van! What do you have to say about this!"

"But this break van causes trouble." said Hachirou.

"I heard Hachirou from the yard sir. He worked really hard." Shiro jumped in.

"I don't what to do. I really don't know."


	6. Epilogue

Mima had taken residence in Mayohiga, she bought an apartment and was enjoying life in Gensokyo. She was walking outside and was about enter one of the shops, when Alice noticed her.

"Hello Alice." Mima said.

"Hello _Mima_." Alice replied coldly.

"What brings you out of the forest and into here."

"I know what you did Mima...To _my_ Marisa."

"What do you mean _your_ Marisa and what did I do?"

"You went drinking with her and when she was drunk you smashed her head and left her in a shed to die!" Alice was furious.

"I did drink with her, but I did not leave her to die. I like her too much."

"You like _her_ too much?" Alice gritted her teeth.

"Yeah, I wouldn't kill her."

"I'll have you know that Marisa loves me more than anyone else in Gensokyo and you know that!"

Alice and Mima glared at each other, silence fell hard on the both of them. The silence ended when Mima spoke first.

"I happen to know that things had changed these past few years. But that is no excuse for you to accuse me of harming a friend of mine."

"I hope Reimu exorcises your vengeful spirit."

"Is that a threat I hear?"

"Its not a threat, its a promise! You mujakina meinu!"

"Hey! Watch your words!" shouted the shopkeeper.

"This is not over, _baka_!" finished Alice.

"So be it." Mima replied.

Alice left the store and Mima was left to pick through merchandise by herself. The cause of Marisa's injury was still unknown and no one knows who did it as there were no witnesses. Nothing could change Alice Margatroid's mind. She now holds a grudge against Mima, while she knew who Mima was. She couldn't remember what else Mima did, it was almost Mima's past had been improperly erased and fragments of it still existed, but only as pieces covered in a thick hazy fog that only few would know about.

Mima went home, she saw how much Gensokyo had changed, but not only because of the railway, but also how everybody else looked, she thought Reimu being dressed in something different from a traditional miko outfit was unlike her and Marisa's black instead of purple, it seemed unnatural. Even when she met new people and youkai, they didn't seem to even thought she existed, like Nitori and the Scarlet Controller, Remilia Scarlet. But she thought Sakuya Izayoi seemed familiar but Sakuya didn't even recognize her. She sat in bed, thinking of the differences between _her_ Gensokyo and the Gensokyo she's _in_.


End file.
